Both of the characters of Edgar Allan Poe's short story, "The Cask of Amontillado," share several similar traits. They are both wealthy and come from families of longstanding influence. They both show an interest in wine; Montresor uses Fortunato's weakness for Amontillado to lure him into his family's vast catacombs, which doubles as a wine cellar. They are apparently old acquaintances, and Fortunato considers Montresor a friend. However, to Montresor, Fortunato is his mortal enemy. Montresor is far colder and more detached than the jovial Fortunato who, though drunk, appears in the carnival costume of a court jester. Fortunato is obviously much more trusting than Montresor; Fortunato willingly follows him into the cellars, never considering that his friend has ulterior motives. Montresor, meanwhile, lies to his servants, telling them that he will be absent from the house; he knows they will take advantage of this and head to the carnival festivities. Montresor's coldness and lack of trust continues for the next half century: During his retelling of the story, he shows no hint of remorse, and he relates that he has never disclosed the story to anyone.

In "The Cask of Amontillado," compare and contrast Fortunato and Montresor. What are some of their actions and utterances to prove this evidence?

Fortunado and Montresor are both very prideful men, who are willing to go to great lengths to maintain their honor and reputation.  Montresor reveals his wounded pride from the get-go, as he states that he had borne a "thousand injuries" from Fortunado, and that he would, as a result of insult, "punish with impunity" to defend his honor.  Then, he enacts his evil plan of revenge, going to great lengths to get rid of the insulting Fortunado.  Montresor also shows pride in himself  when he brags about how his family name has been around for ages, and how they are "a great and numerous family."  He goes on to proudly explain his family's coat of arms.

Fortunado is also a very prideful man bent on maintaining his reputation.  For him, it is his reputation as a fine wine expert that he must defend.  And, it is that pride that leads to his death, because it prompts him to follow Montresor deep into the catacombs, egged on by Montresor's threats to take his wine to another man (Luchesi) to be tasted.  He refuses to turn back, insisting that he must taste the Amontillado for himself, refusing to admit that Luchesi might have a "taste that is a match" for his own skill.

Both men are also wine-experts; Montresor states,

"I was skilful in the Italian vintages myself, and bought largely whenever I could,"

comparing himself to Fortunado in skill.

The differences between the two fall mainly in personality traits.  Fortunado is a bit of a light-hearted, harmless fellow who is filled with goodwill and a bit of obtuseness.  Poe emphasizes his rather absurd character by having him wear a jester's hat, and by having him be a bit drunk.  It is hard to believe that Fortunado, with much forethought, purposely and maliciously insulted Montresor.  He seems like an easy-going guy overall.  Montresor is sinister, malicious, cunning and clever.  He sets up the entire scene, plans it out, cleverly prompts Fortunado on and on, and has the evil intent to kill him. He is much more harmful and dangerous than the bumbling Fortundado.

I hope that those thoughts help; good luck!

In what ways are Montresor and Fortunato alike in "The Cask of Amontillado"? How are they different? Compare and contrast.

Both Fortunato and Montresor are incredibly proud men. Montresor quickly identifies pride as Fortunato's one "weak point." According to Montresor, Fortunato "prides himself on his connoisseurship in wine." However, Montresor fails to identify pride as his own weakness. In the first line, he says that "when [Fortunato] ventured upon insult, [Montresor] vowed revenge." Montresor's pride is so highly developed that he cannot endure being insulted without deciding to plot murder. Kind of an overreaction, don't you think? He is clearly incredibly proud if his pride can be so wounded by an insult that he must murder in return. Both men are also "skilful in the Italian vintages." Montresor says that "In this respect [he does] not differ from [Fortunato] materially."

On the other hand, while Fortunato seems a little ridiculous—even his Carnival costume, that of a jester, hints at his foolishness—Montresor is cunning and manipulative. Even while he plots his enemy's "immolation," Montresor had "given Fortunato no cause to doubt [Montresor's] good will. [He] continued, as was [his] wont, to smile in [Fortunato's] face." Moreover, he knows just how to lure the unsuspecting Fortunato to his family vaults: by insisting that he will go to the other local wine connoisseur for help in assessing the wine he recently bought. Montresor knows that Fortunato will not be able to resist humiliating him by revealing that he (Montresor) overpaid for the recent wine purchase. Further, Montresor has thought ahead and brought a black mask and long cloak so that no one will be able to identify him as having been with Fortunato. And he knows that by telling his servants that he will not be home until the morning and that they should not leave the house, this would "insure their immediate disappearance, one and all, as soon as [his] back was turned." Fortunato doesn't even think it's strange when Montresor pulls a trowel out from under his cloak—why would he be carrying a brick-laying instrument?—and he, of course, does allow himself to be led deeper and deeper, to his doom.

In what ways are Montresor and Fortunato alike in "The Cask of Amontillado"? How are they different? Compare and contrast.

Montresor and Fortunato are both Italian gentlemen of high social standing. They are friends, or at least were at some point in the past. Both enjoy wine, and it is this mutual love for the drink that Montresor uses to lure Fortunato into the catacombs. They are also both prideful; an imagined injury to said pride is why Montresor is bent on punishing Fortunato. Fortunato's pride as a wine connoisseur is what keeps him traveling through the catacombs, even when he is unsure of Montresor's intentions. This is where the similarities end.

Montresor is portrayed as cunning and sly, in contrast to Fortunato's rather bumbling drunkenness. He is also obsessed with revenge, revealing a dark side to his nature. Fortunato seems good-natured on the other hand, attempting jokes and seemingly intent on having a good time. He is also guileless and gullible, a bad combination for someone who has crossed Montresor. His jester's costume symbolizes that he will play a fool, while Montresor cape and mask of black silk reveals he will play the executioner.

In what ways are Montresor and Fortunato alike in "The Cask of Amontillado"? How are they different? Compare and contrast.

Montresor is the narrator of the story. As he is an unreliable narrator and all of the reader's information about Fortunato is conveyed through the viewpoint of Montresor, any comparison is based on possibly biased information.

Both Montresor and Fortunato are men of some wealth and standing. They both are Italian and mature adults, rather than students. Both have educated palates and are, to a greater or lesser degree, knowledgeable about fine wines, with such knowledge and taste serving as class markers. They both are accustomed to having servants and do not appear to have jobs, although Fortunato may earn money from investments or trading. Neither appears to be married.

Montresor is a scion of a noble family, something in which he takes great pride, but despite still living in a large palazzo and having servants, he seems unhappy with his position in life and blames Fortunato. He is calculating, deceptive, and vindictive in his nature. Fortunato, by contrast, enjoys good fortune. His family may originally have been less distinguished than Montresor's, and from the viewpoint of Montresor he shows lapses in taste typical of the nouveau riche. He is cheerful, frank, and trusting.

In what ways are Montresor and Fortunato alike in "The Cask of Amontillado"? How are they different? Compare and contrast.

The characters Montresor and Fortunato in "The Cask of Amontillado" share many surface similarities.  Both men are Italian and from relatively wealthy families.  Both would likely have been dressed as gentlemen and behaved in similar ways.  Each man is cocky in his own right.  Fortunato believes he is an excellent wine connoisseur.  Montresor believes he is better than Forutnato in a way and that Fortunato has insulted him.  Montresor seems colder and more calculating than Fortuanto.  Fortunato is trusting and some what of a dupe in this story.  Montresor seems unbalanced in a way.  He offers no proof of the insults that Fortunato has done to him and yet he considers them severe enough to torture Fortunato behind the wall.  In the end, we see the same stubbornness in Fortunato's character as he refuses to answer Montresor from behind the wall.

How are Montresor and Fortunato alike in "The Cask of Amontillado"?

In "The Cask of Amontillado," there are some similarities between Montresor, the narrator of Edgar Allan Poe's short story, and Fortunato.

One similarity is that they both considered themselves to be connoisseurs of wine.

"In painting and gemmary, Fortunato, like his countrymen, was a quack, but in the matter of old wines he was sincere. In this respect I did not differ from him materially--I was skillful in the Italian vintages myself, and bought largely whenever I could."

Fortunato and Montresor are also alike in social status. They are both noblemen, evidenced by their coats-of-arms and the fact that they call each other friend. People tended to socialize within their class at the time this story is set. Montresor invites Fortunato to his "palazzo," which is Italian for a palace.  

Another similarity they have is that they are both prideful. Fortunato considers himself superior to Luchesi, saying Luchesi can't tell amontillado from common cooking sherry. He also proudly lords it over Montresor that he is a member of the Freemasons, and it is indicated that Montresor is not, since he doesn't recognize the gesticulations of Fortunato. Montresor is prideful in that he will not stand for Fortunato insulting him without exacting his revenge.  The fact that his revenge is carefully thought out and heinous shows the depth of his pride and arrogance.  

And finally, they are both attending carnival, which implies that they are culturally aware and interested in the social aspects of the time period in which they are living. 

How are Montresor and Fortunato alike in "The Cask of Amontillado"?

Good question!  They are both single-mindedly in pursuit of something (Montresor about killing his foe, Fortunato about the amontillado), they are about the same age, from the story and the language they use it seems they are from similar backgrounds.  They have many of the same interests, including, but not limited to, their love of fine wines.  They both love a good party, and perhaps a good joke.  Fortunato obviously believes up until the last horrifying moment that Montresor is kidding around as he handcuffs Fortunato to the wall and begins to brick him into the wall itself.  They are both arrogant--Fortunato about his knowledge and expertise of fine wines; Montresor about the ills done to him by his greatest foe, Fortunato.

Check out the links below in order to find more ways to compare the two characters of this story and also how to support your opinions.  Good Luck!

Contrast the characters of Montresor and Fortunato in Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado."

Presumably the protagonist and antagonist of Edgar Allan Poe's Gothic tale, Montresor and Fortunato are apparently victimizer and victim. While there exists an ambiguity regarding "the thousand injuries" committed by Fortunato against Montresor, it is clear that Montresor has planned redress against his perceived enemy.  With the motif of disguise, Montresor feigns a friendly invitation to Fortunato to taste his recently-acquired Amontillado.  Priding himself on his expertise in judging wine, the fatuous Fortunato, who considers himself a connossieur, agrees to accompany Montresor to his catacombs where the wine is stored because he wants to prevent his rival Luchesi from having this honor. But, there he is victimized.

While pretending solicitude for Fortunato's cough and health, Montresor lures the inebriated Fortunato through recesses covered with niter and filled with skeletal bones, giving him more libation.  He argues that Luchesi can come instead, and the enraged Fortunato counters with dramatic irony,

"Enough...the cough is a mere nothing; it will not kill me.  I shall not die of a cough."

Speaking in double entendres, Montresor displays his family coat of arms and declares himself a mason.  Finally, having seduced Fortunato far enough into the catacombs, Montresor fetters his victim, who is "too astounded to resist." Fortunato screams. It is at this point that the horror of what he has done strikes Montresor. He replies to the screams of his victim; the low laugh of Fortunato "erected the hairs upon [his] head" and he bemoans that the voice behind is not that of "the noble Fortunato." After Montresor finishes walling in Fortunato, the victim suggests that Montresor may be jesting with him, and laughs,

"He!he!he!...yes, the Anomtillado. But is it not getting late?  Will they not be awaiting us at the palazzo...Let us be gone....For the love of God, Montresor. 

In a reversal of meaning, Montresor repeats, "Yes,...for the love of God."  His "heart grew sick" and he hastens to make "an end of [his] labor." Ironically, it seems that Montresor has also become victim.  For, he realizes that the real horror lies within himself for what he is capable of doing.  Ironically, then, Montresor has meant to victimize and terrorize Fortunato and has done so; however, at the same time he has also terrorized himself. In her essay, "'The Cask of Amontillado': Duplicity and Doubling," Cynthia Bily writes,

When they reach the end of the final passageway, Poe presents a flurry of twos: two men in ‘‘the interval between two of the colossal supports’’ confronted with ‘‘two iron staples, distant from each other about two feet.'' But as soon as Montresor fastens the padlock on the chain around Fortunato's waist, the two are one.

The two become dopplegangers as the redressed becomes also a redresser and vice versa.

What are the personalities of both Montresor and Fortunato in Edgar Allan Poe's story "The Cask of Amontillado"?

Montresor reveals more about himself in "The Cask of Amontillado" because he is the narrator. He is obviously intelligent, as we can see from the way he expresses his thoughts and feelings. He is proud, as shown by the coat of arms he describes: a human foot crushing a snake, and the motto proclaiming in Latin, "No one injures me with impunity." He exhibits a wry sense of humor. He is lonely, gloomy, vindictive, envious, sinister, and cunning. He has suffered many personal losses, as he confesses to Fortunato, and is chronically hard up financially. This last is illustrated in several ways, including his comment about his servants to whom he gave explicit orders not to leave the palazzo all night, knowing they would immediately abscond to partake in the carnival. They have no respect for him, probably because they see his poverty and because there are times that he can't pay them.

Fortunato, on the other hand, is as prosperous as his name suggests. When they are underground, Montresor tells him:

"You are rich, respected, admired, beloved; you are happy as once I was."

Poe uses Fortunato's carnival costume to characterize him:

The man wore motley. He had on a tight-fitting parti-striped dress and his head was surmounted by the conical caps and bells.

This costume, specially tailored for the occasion, may characterize Fortunato as something of a fool, but Poe's main purpose is to show that he considers himself a jester. People usually choose masquerade costumes that represent what they would like to be. Fortunato, in contrast to Montresor, is loud, flamboyant, egotistical, overbearing, happy-go-lucky, and hedonistic. He likes to drink. He is a connoisseur of wine because he consumes so much of it. As Montresor says:

He had a weak point--this Fortunato--although in other regards he was a man to be respected and even feared. He prided himself on his connoisseurship of wine.

This is a weak point because it causes him to be an alcoholic and  enables Montresor to entrap him. But "he was a man to be respected and even feared." He demonstrates this when he is chained to the wall and in desperate fear for his life. He says:

"Ha! ha! ha! -- he! he! -- a very good joke indeed -- an excellent jest. We will have many a rich laugh about it at the palazzo -- he! he! he! -- over our wine -- he! he! he! . . . . But is it not getting late? Will not they be awaiting us at the palazzo, the Lady Fortunato and the rest? Let us be gone."

Fortunato shows his intelligence and cunning. He is giving Montresor a plausible excuse for letting him go if he can plant a fear in his captor's mind that people might come searching for him that very night and that they might come directly to Montresor's palazzo. He suggests that people must have seen them together on the streets and assumed they were heading for Fortunato's home. His words carry many suggestions, including the assurance that they will remain good friends, that Montresor will be welcomed into the bosom of his family, and also that a great many people are expecting Fortunato that very night.

But Montresor established early on that Fortunato was not expected anywhere. He knows that if he were gullible enough to release his captive now, Fortunato would be sure to get his revenge by having him murdered--possibly even murdered in the same horrible manner in which he is presently preparing to murder Fortunato. His captive is a powerful man with many friends. He is "a man to be respected and even feared."

In what ways are Montresor and Fortunato alike and different in "The Cask of Amontillado"?

Judging from the third paragraph of Poe's tale, both Montresor and Fortunato are specialists in art, "gemmary" (jewels), and other luxury goods, which would include expensive wines. This is how they know each other and how both of them know Luchesi, who is evidently not just a connoisseur of wine but someone who actually deals in it as an importer. These three men are evidently not members of the highest nobility who do not have to work to earn their livings. They are borderline upper-class traders. Venice at that date (the mid-nineteenth century) must have been full of aristocratic men forced to engage in some sort of trade to maintain their luxurious lifestyles, with palazzi and servants. If Fortunato had a title, Montresor would have addressed him by that title at least once. The same with Luchesi.

In what ways are Montresor and Fortunato alike and different in "The Cask of Amontillado"?

An interesting question. Montressor and Fortunato are alike in a number of ways. First and most simply—always start with the basics—they live in the same place and time. This allows them to engaged in odd behavior and excuse it by the idea that it is carnival time, and is essential for the plot. They share an interest in wine, and have highly developed senses of  pride. They share secrets. They are both masons, though this is somewhat of a pun (one is a literal mason; one is a Mason, a member of a secret society).

They differ in that Montressor narrates the story (again, start with the basics) and so we see his side of things, but never Fortunato's. After that, they differ in the type and nature of deception. Montressor deceives Fortunato regarding his intent, actively lying to him; if we believe Montressor, Fortunato pretends not to know he's given offense. Finally, of course, Montressor is a killer.

What are the characteristics or ways in which Montresor and Fortunato are similar in "The Cask of Amontillado"?

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In what ways are Monstresor and Fortunato alike and different in "The Cask of Amontillado"?

Montresor and Fortunato are both upper-class, but Fortunato belongs to a more privileged group than Montresor.

We do not have much background on Montresor and Fortunato, but we can tell that they are not close friends.  They seem to be only acquaintances. There is evidence that Fortunato is part of a privileged group known as the Masons, but Montresor is not.

“You do not comprehend?” he said.

“Not I,” I replied.

“Then you are not of the brotherhood.”

“How?”

“You are not of the masons.”

“Yes, yes,” I said; “yes, yes.”

“You? Impossible! A mason?”

Fortunato laughs off the thought of Montresor being a Mason. This seems to show Montresor is not in Fortunato’s league. We do not know what the supposed injury was that Fortunato did to Montresor, but he may be envious of Fortunato’s status. Fortunato readily considers himself a wine expert, and Montresor appeals to him on the grounds of asking for his help. He also demonstrates concern for Fortunato’s health. It seems to indicate Fortunato is his superior.

Both men are definitely from important families to a certain extent; Montresor has a crypt, Fortunato is one of the Masons. Montresor seems to suffer from some kind of psychosis. He believes he is justified in killing Fortunato over the slightest perceived insult.

Fortunato is definitely gullible, while Montresor is cunning. Montresor is able to concoct an elaborate scheme that gets Fortunato underground and allows him to kill him with impunity. Fortunato never sees it coming. Montresor must have seemed like a perfectly normal man.

It also seems that Fortunato knows how to have a good time, but Montresor does not.

He accosted me with excessive warmth, for he had been drinking much. The man wore motley. He had on a tight-fitting parti-striped dress, and his head was surmounted by the conical cap and bells. 

Montresor celebrates the holiday by killing a man. He is not out partying like Fortunato. Different strokes, I guess.